Kevin Dillon admitted his side paid a costly price for a dreadful opening 20 minutes as Reading suffered their first defeat of the season at West Ham United.

Royals looked unrecognisable from a side that had gone five games unbeaten in Nationwide Division 1.

Any talk of Alan Pardew's departure was played down but it looked to have a real affect on the players as they conceded a goal inside 17 minutes when Christian Dailly powered home a header from a corner.

It could and should have been far worse for Reading's nervous-looking side, who were lucky not to have been dead and buried midway through the half.

And Dillon, who made it clear he was unwilling to answer any questions on the Pardew saga, conceded: "The preparation and training went really well and we did everything as normal. But we made a dreadful start. It was very, very poor indeed.

"Our passing out of defence was sloppy and it spread through to every player.

"I thought we were in awe of them. I don't think having two weeks off helped while Adie Williams had tonsilitis and Steve Brown had no sleep and missed training on the Friday with flu."

Had it not been for keeper Marcus Hahnemann, who made two stunning saves during the opening onslaught, then it would have been game over by the time Royals finally shook off any nerves.

But they rode their luck to finish the half well and carried that confidence into the second half.

However, for all Reading's possession they struggled to make much impact and England keeper David James's goal rarely came under threat.

Dillon said: "It was disappointing to concede from a set-piece, but we were fortunate to be just 1-0 down at half-time. We got it together after 20 minutes. We looked more solid and restricted them to a few chances.

"At the break I just told them to relax and we did well in the second half.

"Hughesy started finding some space, the two midfielders (James Harper and Steve Sidwell) started getting on the ball as did our two full-backs, and they are so important to our game.

"West Ham changed it three or four times today, starting off with a 4-3-3, then ending with a 4-4-2 and I think that shows a bit of respect for us because we were doing well.

"If we'd got one goal I think we'd have got another.

"We set a target of 13 points from the first six games, so it is a bit of a blip."

Skipper Adie Williams added: "I thought we dominated the second half. West Ham had some chances because we were throwing caution to the wind, but that second half was a massive improvement.

"We will take the positives into our home game against Cardiff tomorrow night."